Blood Will Tell: Progress Report

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If a samurai wanted his body part back, wouldn't you give it to him?

By Ed Lewis

The last time we had a chance to play Osamu Tezuka's Blood Will Tell was at E3 earlier this year. We got a good feel for the game, but with all of the games that had to be covered we only had about 20 minutes of playtime to check it out. With a preview build in the office, this was quickly remedied and we got a couple hours to put the game through its paces.

The main character here is Hyakkimaru. Hyakkimaru has had a pretty bum deal soon after his arrival into the conscious world. His father made a deal with some demons for power and inadvertently traded away 48 of Hyakkimaru's body parts. Disgusted with himself and his ruined child, Hyakkimaru's father leaves him for dead, floating down the river. A doctor later finds him and nurses him back to health and provides Hyakkimaru with an extensive set of prosthetics. Some of these, like the sword arms and the cannon leg, prove to be invaluable while others, like the glass eye, prove to be mere placeholders.

No matter what, Hyakkimaru proves to be an exceptional child with the power of telepathic conversation and the ability to see without any eyes. As he grows old enough, the doctor lets Hyakkimaru loose on the world to destroy the demons that stole his life from him and get his body parts back. With 48 demons to fight along the way, Hyakkimaru has his work cut out for him.

As Blood Will Tell begins, Hyakkimaru can only see the world in black and white. Apparently that's the drawback to seeing the world with one's mind. In this grayscale world, Hyakkimaru learns his different moves. He can attack with a sword that's held with prosthetic hands or, even better, throw off the hands to reveal the two swords that are where his forearms should be. There is a weak and a strong attack and combos can be pulled that all start off with the weak attack. In the beginning there are only a few combos available, but a quick look at the combo list in the pause menu shows that many more become unlocked.

The attacks themselves also grow in strength as the game progresses, but only for the weapon that's currently being used. If the sword arms are the weapons of choice then they'll get stronger as more and more enemies get ripped apart by them. Interestingly enough, the two arms don't progress at the same rate either. Since the left arm is the one that gets the most hits as the arm that starts the attacks it is at a level 10 after a couple hours where the right arm is only a level seven.

With the weapons advancing, Hyakkimaru's power is truly in the building up his energy for a special attack. This is the "dropping the bomb" move in the game where by building up a critical mass of juice he can spin through the air and demolish everything he touches. This energy can be built up with regular attacks, but a specific attack builds it up fastest. By charging up the strong attack and slicing at an enemy, Hyakkimaru enters into a quick combo mode where a series of button icons appear on the screen. There is a time limit for these to be pulled off, but it doesn't need to be completed. Instead, the enemy's health needs to be depleted enough so that a finishing move can be done with the triangle button. Get this mini-game right and the energy meter gets a big boost.

Once these concepts have been mastered in the training level the time is right to fight the first demon. From what we've seen, the demon fights follow a specific set-up with a round area of battle and a surly demon that the camera is locked onto (this can be turned off) for an easier fight. The key elements here are dodging and getting in a few good strikes here and there until the health bar is completely depleted. With a bar that needs to be knocked down three times over, it's good to hold onto some health until the very end of the match. Otherwise it's death and retry and whoo-hoo!